Spigot
03-30-2009, 05:12 PM
We apologize profusely for the delay in the turning of this week's spigot of obscure and overlooked games.
This week marks the first WiiWare title that is a must-buy for people interested in trippy aesthetics and strange gameplay fusions.
bit.trip.beat
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3558/3400091088_6627e29722.jpg?v=0
Year: 2009
Platform: Wii
Rating: Trippy
# of Players: 1-4
A few weeks ago, bit.trip.beat launched on the WiiWare store with little fanfare.
A hybrid of Rez, Pong, Guitar Hero and a bad acid trip, bit.trip.beat tells the story of... a space guy... who needs to do something with a planet... You know what? There is some kind of story going on in bit.trip.beat, but I'll be damned if I know what it is. Thankfully the gameplay is what this is all about.
Wielding an 8-bit aesthetic with finesse, bit.trip.beat has you playing what boils down to a game of Pong, but instead of trying to get the ball past the other paddle, you are trying to keep the bits from getting past you. Let too many sneak by and you go into a monochromatic netherworld where you had better step up your paddle skills or else it's game over.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3651/3400092440_53b6d0bb20.jpg?v=0
With a soundtrack composed entirely of chip tunes (bitshifter even does the music for the credits!), you'll find the blips and blorps of each thwack of the paddle integrated into the overall aural presentation. This starts out simple at first, with one or two bits on screen and a simple music track in the background, but as the game progresses, the behaviour of the bits changes and the music kicks up several notches. This is where the comparison to Rez is apt.
There are only 3 stages to the game, but they're all quite long and have a variety of bits to blorp and even boss fights to deal with. There is also multiplayer, where you can have up to 4 people each control their own paddle and aid in the bit blopping.
Ah, just check out this little video. If ever a game required some shots of it in action, this is it.
M-dVJ15X4Qc
bit.trip.beat is available for a mere 600 points on the Wii Shop channel.
This week marks the first WiiWare title that is a must-buy for people interested in trippy aesthetics and strange gameplay fusions.
bit.trip.beat
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3558/3400091088_6627e29722.jpg?v=0
Year: 2009
Platform: Wii
Rating: Trippy
# of Players: 1-4
A few weeks ago, bit.trip.beat launched on the WiiWare store with little fanfare.
A hybrid of Rez, Pong, Guitar Hero and a bad acid trip, bit.trip.beat tells the story of... a space guy... who needs to do something with a planet... You know what? There is some kind of story going on in bit.trip.beat, but I'll be damned if I know what it is. Thankfully the gameplay is what this is all about.
Wielding an 8-bit aesthetic with finesse, bit.trip.beat has you playing what boils down to a game of Pong, but instead of trying to get the ball past the other paddle, you are trying to keep the bits from getting past you. Let too many sneak by and you go into a monochromatic netherworld where you had better step up your paddle skills or else it's game over.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3651/3400092440_53b6d0bb20.jpg?v=0
With a soundtrack composed entirely of chip tunes (bitshifter even does the music for the credits!), you'll find the blips and blorps of each thwack of the paddle integrated into the overall aural presentation. This starts out simple at first, with one or two bits on screen and a simple music track in the background, but as the game progresses, the behaviour of the bits changes and the music kicks up several notches. This is where the comparison to Rez is apt.
There are only 3 stages to the game, but they're all quite long and have a variety of bits to blorp and even boss fights to deal with. There is also multiplayer, where you can have up to 4 people each control their own paddle and aid in the bit blopping.
Ah, just check out this little video. If ever a game required some shots of it in action, this is it.
M-dVJ15X4Qc
bit.trip.beat is available for a mere 600 points on the Wii Shop channel.